Sunday, July 28, 2013

Minimum Wage Jobs; It Ain't Rocket Science

Just about every economic study over the last half century has shown that raising the minimum wage almost always leads to lower employment rates. So, while it's no surprise that our "business-challenged" President is proposing a $9.00 federal minimum wage rate, I'm still taken aback that so many ordinary Americans don't get it. And Washington D.C. sure doesn't get it as two weeks ago that ghetto demanded that Walmart pay $12.50 an hour or get the hell out....which is just what Walmart is doing at a loss to D.C of thousands of jobs.

Since 75% of all American business is small business, and since the average gross income for a small business is less than $200,000 a year, it is not hard to see that raising the costs of doing business will cause small business to hire fewer workers, just to keep his costs down.

Since 2004, when the Democratic party gained majority control of Congress, the minimum wage has been raised three times. And now they are at it again. During this period minimum wage hikes of 41% surpasses the wage increases of even highly skilled workers.

It seems to me that Washington D.C. needs to refocus on what minimum wage jobs are meant to be. They create employment opportunities to teenagers just entering the work force. They provide jobs for low skill, poorly educated workers that can serve as "stepping stones" for higher skilled, and better compensated jobs, provided a worker is willing to work hard and grow into the better paid jobs.

Like almost all liberal legislation these minimum wage hikes actually destroy job opportunities. One only need look at minority unemployment rates of plus 20% to know this is true.

God knows, when over half of America is on the government dole, fully satisfied to take a government check in lieu of a job, we need to reinvigorate our nation's work ethic. This can only be accomplished when enough entry level jobs are available. Hiking the minimum wage only hurts these efforts.

Liberals will argue that current minimum wage rates are not a "living wage". Hey, guess what? It was never mean to be! Minimum wage jobs are perfect for a teen just entering the work force. They teach responsibility; require a modicum of effort on how to show up for work on time, how to count change, run a cash register, flip a burger, stock a grocery shelf or sweep the floor.

Minimum wage jobs were not designed to support a single mom breeding any number of children without a thought about how she is going to support them. Minimum wage jobs were not designed to reward a kid who thought school was a lark and made no effort to get an education.

So why are we trying to reward bad behavior and poor family planning by demanding that a small businessman pay for a worker's failure to develop marketable job skills? Let's keep minimum wage jobs in their proper perspective. They are simply jobs meant to introduce our young people to the work force, not simply another "welfare" program for those wanting others to pay for their poor life choices.

This isn't Rocket Science folks! Rocket Science pays better wages...and it should! Flipping burgers do not and should not!